West Seattle Water Taxi, post-closure: Winter starts Monday

(Thursday photo by WSB co-publisher Patrick Sand)
It’s been beautiful every morning this week out at Seacrest Pier, with views like that one, for our crew tracking the West Seattle Water Taxi‘s usage as a commute alternative during this Alaskan Way Viaduct closure week. It’s had an extended schedule, with extra runs, each weekday during the closure. And ridership has been at least triple last month’s average, according to the county’s stats.

But just so it doesn’t catch you by surprise, whether you’re a Water Taxi veteran or new convert, we want to remind you that the winter schedule begins Monday. This is the second year the Water Taxi is running through the winter. The biggest change is again that it’s a Monday-Friday, commute-times-only schedule. See the winter schedule here. This schedule continues into March, and then it’s back to 7-day-a-week runs.

Kiddo October 28, 2011 (5:59 am)

I see they have no indication about whether they will offer extended service for Sounders or Seahawks events. Is this an oversight? There is a big Sounders match next Wednesday 11/2.

WSB October 28, 2011 (6:31 am)

Kiddo, we’re at the Water Taxi dock again this morning and will ask … TR
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(added) They’re not certain yet but working on it, we’re told.

cjboffoli October 28, 2011 (6:31 am)

Great photograph!

xyz October 28, 2011 (8:23 am)

Will they consider a special Saturday run for the Apple Cup game on November 26th?

WSB October 28, 2011 (8:41 am)

Last year if it was a day when the boat wasn’t already running (winter weekend), they generally did not. But we’ll add that to the inquiry – TR

Jordan October 28, 2011 (8:31 am)

Nice HDR image. Striking but subtle.

WSB October 28, 2011 (8:45 am)

Jordan – thanks (on Patrick’s behalf), though I will admit we had to Google “HDR” to find out what it means in that context. We have a nicer camera as of a couple months ago (Canon Rebel something, replacing our total cheapo Sony bottom-of-line DSLR) but we still use as many of the automatic settings as humanly possible. And yet he’s gotten some lovely images these past few mornings, hanging out at the dock – TR

jiggers October 28, 2011 (11:41 am)

Can’t wait I’ll have the whole park to myself

Mel October 30, 2011 (2:28 pm)

It’s a real shame that the Water Taxi service couldn’t be consistent during “Viadoom” and maybe win over some more commuters.
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Without a backup boat, the service just isn’t trustworthy enough for commuters – and that was demonstrated quite clearly this past week.
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I don’t see the Water Taxi continuing to be funded as it was this year without a ridership boost, and this past week just might decrease ridership going forward.

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